A few weeks ago, I shared a kitchen hack in my Instagram stories, and it received such a great response, that I asked you - my readers and Instagram followers for kitchen hacks of your own - and you really delivered. As we head into a long winter of staying home, these cooking tips may help make life a little easier!
This is the Garlic hack I shared: I use a lot of garlic in my cooking, but peeling garlic every time I need to use it is a pain in the ass. Once a week, I peel a whole head of garlic and store it in a glass jar in the refrigerator so I have garlic ready to use! One tip to make peeling garlic easier: divide up the whole bulb into its little cloves and soak them in very hot water (I use my electric kettle) for about 10 minutes. Drain and the peels should slip right off!
The funniest hack was @gernblanston1 saying “Don’t watch me cook”. But since that isn’t a “real” hack, here are 11 other submissions that are! I’ve linked to all their Instagram profiles, and while they talk about many different things besides food, I hope you will consider following them!
OTHER COOKING SHORTCUTS:
@lzone recommends alphabetizing your spices.
Make pastes of ingredients you use frequently. For example, @blushesandgloss makes a paste of sauteed onion, ginger, and garlic and blends it all together, and stores it in her refrigerator to use all week.
For the right seasoning, salt onions as you sautee them, per @sriti_curious
Cut up fresh ginger into 1/2 inch or 1 inch pieces and freeze them to use in cooking, smoothies, etc like @shophoneylamb does!
Microwave lemons and limes for 15 seconds to make them easier to juice, per @mmsane
@katekaput suggests freezing individual cookie dough balls so you can bake a single cookie when you’re really craving a fresh-baked cookie
If you chronically have liquid boiling over (happens every time I make rice), @sincerely_sneha recommends placing a spoon across the top of the pot
For the perfect boiled eggs, @sincerely_sneha recommends that you bring water to a fast boil in a pot, remove the pot from heat, add in eggs, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes.
@rahultoprani and his family cook all their meals on Sunday so they can reheat and eat all week!
@bitebuff pickles a whole sliced red onion on the weekend to have on hand for sandwiches and salads, or anything they may need. We do this too, and my favorite pickling recipes are either squeezing lemon juice and salt over the onions and letting them sit (refrigerated). or these marinated red onions!
Game-changing hacks from @simplytrudy.m: season your chicken before you pre-portion and freeze it! She also recommends pre-chopping onions and having them ready to go in a container (refrigerated) for the week!
I cannot thank you enough for recommending all these hacks - I either didn’t know or had not thought of most of these, so you’ve changed my life!!! And I know it will help so many other people too!
